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The Envelope of Sustainability When it comes to green living, location certainly is a large part of the equation. The rest of it comes in the highly technical “how to” of sustainable building. That’s where the specifics on the Bole’s home take center stage. Richard – who earned a combined master’s in natural resource planning and an MBA at the University of Michigan – gained practical sustainability experience through Euclid Lofts, his company that rehabs downtown Cleveland apartment buildings. The Boles determined they needed no more than 2,000 square feet. This is the perfect size for the family of four, but considerably smaller than most homes in their neighborhood. To make the home appear consistent with surrounding homes, the heights of the individual stories, including the basement level, have been extended. This gives the two-story Craftsman/Missionstyle home the appearance of a three-story. Architect William Doty (who designed the PNC Smart Home in University Circle) and Richard also agreed that a decorative leaded-glass window, stucco that’s worthy of Van Sweringen approval, and a foundation lined with reclaimed bricks from a Cleveland demolition project added favorable Shaker-esque touches. The Boles even harvested wood from a single walnut and a smaller cherry tree in Chesterland to use on the trim and floors throughout the house. “We really wanted to honor the heritage of the old, while building something new,” Aparna says. “We wanted a smaller house, but ShAKer LIFE | SUMMER 2015 39 we wanted the aesthetic to blend into the neighborhood.” Then come the technical matters of what’s underneath the “old Shaker” veneer, or “the envelope” as Richard calls it. The home’s foundation is built of Insulated Concrete Form (ICF) – two Styrofoam forms filled with concrete. Working up the walls of the house and within a two-by-six stud frame, is 4.5 inches of sprayed polyurethane foam, which is 50 percent bio-based, and an air gap. That frame is surrounded by a fiberglass blanket, which adds to the home’s thermal resistance, or R-value. The higher the R-value the better. The fiberglass blanket and the polyurethane foam create a combined wall R-value in the high 40s. By comparison, minimum code in a new construction home is R-13. A typical Shaker home is less than R-13 because most were built without insulation. The window frames are constructed of fiberglass, which is structurally stronger than wood or vinyl; it’s also hollow, so it can be injected with insulating foam. Each window is triple-paned and filled with argon gas – a non-toxic, odorless gas that’s heavier than air, adding to the window’s energy efficiency. Placement of the windows mattered, too. The Boles limited the number of windows on the home’s north face and maximized them on the south and west.


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